Musings & Rants by Tim Byrd

Damn, There They Go Again

Astonishingly, we have yet another veteran chiming in with an opinion column in the Atlanta Urinal-Constipation today about the whole military experience and politics thing.

Retired General Zeb Bradford Jr. of Duluth doesn’t attack John Kerry directly, as the other two bozos did, and even states that Kerry and Wes Clark “earned their country’s gratitude.” But the main point of his piece is that military service is not “something to be marketed for political gain.” He says nothing about Bush, but then, Bush isn’t trying to use his AWOL status to gain props from the voters. Go figure.

Gen. Bradford’s piece is pretty mild, and as I said earlier, I don’t see military service as a primary requisite for political office. He seems to think, though, that a veteran like Kerry shouldn’t play up his military service to strengthen his image in the public mind. I disagree.

We’re at war, led there by a man without any solid grounding in the agonies or realities of warfare. His own service record points not only to a rather shallow patriotic impulse, but to a lack of character (especially in the fact that he himself has played up his military service over the years to make him look better than he is. John Kerry’s military record shows courage and strength of character, as does the record of his fight to end the war once he came home.

That’s just a single criterion, and the differences between these two men are far more vast. But with military matters of central import in our daily lives, it’s certainly legitimate to dwell on the qualifications, experiences, and mindset of the candidates to face up to those matters.

Still, the sudden slew of what are basically attacks on Kerry for his military record in order to distract us from the stark diminishment of Bush an honest appraisal of the men’s service would lead to is troubling. Why has the AJC opted to print each of these so soon after the other? Has Jim “the GOP could kill my dog and I’d find a way to say it was good for America” Wooten taken over the entire decision process?

TIM BYRD

The author of the Doc Wilde adventure series, Tim is often barefoot, prone to irony, and interested in everything. He has been a soldier, game designer, independent filmmaker, and outdoor guide. He knows how to tie a tie, but doesn't care to.